


1980

by CanaDot



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Chance Meetings, F/F, Funky Beats, Human AU, Inspired by Music, Music, One-Sided Pearl/Rose Quartz (Steven Universe), Pearl Deserves Better, Rose Quartz is a Clod
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24715054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanaDot/pseuds/CanaDot
Summary: The Crystal Gems (Human AU) are headed to the local Roller Disco rink for a well-needed night of dancing, but Pearl isn't feeling her groove, for whatever reason that may be, but with a little nudge finds herself having the time of her life with a special someone.
Relationships: Lapis Lazuli/Pearl (Steven Universe), Pearl/Rose Quartz (Steven Universe), Rose Quartz/Greg Universe
Comments: 7
Kudos: 17





	1980

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually written before Steven Universe Future: Bismuth Casual, but it then proceeded to remain in my files gathering dust until I finally finished editing it!
> 
> This fic was inspired by the music of the 70's and 80's and it's made clear in the text which songs are playing during which parts, so feel free to listen along as you go!

Music spread through the air while strobe lights streaked around every surface in sight, within the dancing area or otherwise. Hot bodies circled the shiny laminated rink of the roller disco, spinning, showboating, pressing up against each other and all sorts of other moves. The first weekend evening had just started and it was clearly evident that everyone was on their absolute worst behaviour. Though what everyone’s worst behaviour was, differed of course. For Pearl, it meant bumping the edge of her roller skates into the barrier on the outskirts of the rink. While going at such a slow speed, she found her feet jerked backwards with her wheels locking up as her torso continued to go forward, flailing about as she fell face first onto the freshly polished floor. A drawn out squeaking came from the very intimate meeting of her face to the floor for a few moments before stopping, her body pathetically slumped.

Pearl didn’t take long to emanate out a tired and drawn out moan into the floor to indicate her continued consciousness, all while the other skaters only took the moment to look towards her before continuing on, not wanting to go against the flow. If it weren’t for Garnet coming fresh out onto the rink and rolling over to her, she might have laid there for the rest of the night.

The tall afro-haired woman sharply stopped next to Pearl, one hand adeptly pulling her up by the back of her shirt while her other hand lowered down her coloured shades. She had a half concerned, half sarcastic tilt on one of her eyebrows as Pearl turned her red face towards her, a snarky comment coming out in her British accent.

“Pearl, I do hope you weren’t planning to snuggle up with the floor this entire night,” Garnet’s expression turned lighter as Pearl attempted some form of a smile in response, though it defaulted into her bringing her hands up and rubbing her nose while sniffling a bit. The smallest amounts of dust from the rink covered Pearl’s face from that quite impressive front slide, with Garnet brushing it off with her half-gloved hand.

“I mean, the floor is freshly polished… and we might have had a bad first impress-…” Pearl mumbled out to Garnet before being interrupted as the two of them slowly stood up. Pearl found herself quickly back into the flow of the music and skaters as Garnet gently pushed her back into it. Remaining at her side, Garnet spoke softly, though loud enough to overpower the music.

“Roll with me Pearl, we need to talk for a bit,” the tall woman’s tone took on her more serene and serious tone, but was still filled with a pleasant calm, only made easier to achieve at the roller disco. Pearl had a tinge of admiration in her eyes for Garnet’s composure, it definitely was something to strive for, even if it was ever evident that she wasn’t exactly succeeding herself.

* * *

The speakers were currently pumping out, “He’s the Greatest Dancer” by Sister Sledge, as the two skated next to each other, a favourite song for both of them. Pearl seemed stiff however, vision going off to anywhere except where she should be looking while occasionally bumping into Garnet as she tended to drift left naturally.

“You’ve been like this for too long Pearl,” Garnet declared as she looked down at her shorter companion, blunt as ever, having exhausted her patience to be gentle with her words.

“I m-mean, we just got here Garn-” Pearl stammered out, her eyes looked back up to her friend only to find her staring back at Pearl with an expression of ‘you know that’s not what I meant’ plastered on her face.

“It’s been two months,” the taller woman deadpanned, spinning casually after doing so with little to no difficulty before continuing, “It’s not healthy Pearl, I can only help so much with this, you know that,” she rested her hand on Pearl’s left shoulder, firmly guiding her away from the barrier at the edge of the rink as she seemed deep in thought.

“You’re right Garnet, I.. just need to…” though Pearl quickly fell silent as her eyes began to track something far outside of the rink.

Garnet mentally drew a line between Pearl’s eyes and where they were looking, letting out a light sigh as she connected the dots. In the table area near the club’s conjoined restaurant, there was the source of Pearl’s pain.

Greg could barely stand up straight in his roller skates, arms up in the air swaying around trying to keep his balance, all while Rose stood up from the chair after she was done tying up her own skates, chortling at Greg’s efforts. Rose was quick to come behind Greg, her hands running up from his shoulders to his hands to steady him, her head resting on his shoulder, red blushed cheeks on both of them as they genuinely laughed with one another.

Garnet had to pull Pearl away from the barrier of the rink once again as she was dangerously close to having another impromptu encounter with the ground. The taller woman pulled off her shades for emphasis as she addressed Pearl once again, “Pearl, we aren’t in university anymore, and honestly,” her eyes gazed over to Rose and Greg for a moment, “You deserve better, I might be friends with Rose, but I’m your friend too, I can’t bare to see you like this and you certainly aren’t enjoying it.” she stated this as if it were objective fact, in her usual fashion.

The strawberry-blonde skater still seemed on the fence, or perhaps the edge of the rink as Garnet stated this, looking up to only partially gaze into her eyes. Garnet gently grabbed her by her chin, ever so gracefully as she spoke once more with pure eye contact, “You are complete without her, and you know that deep down you don’t need someone that makes you feel like this… Don’t be here for her, dance for nobody but yourself, not even me or Amethyst, alright?”

Pearl slowly brought her hands up to her face, rubbing some colour back into her face as she let out a nigh obnoxious sigh, as if trying to deny the logical options life was giving her. She slapped herself in the cheeks a few more times before fixing her posture and skating tall, looking over to Garnet who gave her a large double thumbs up.

“You got this Pearl, I’ll be with Amethyst if you need me, I promised her we’d be on our, 'worst behaviour', tonight,” Garnet smiled lightly as she made obvious air quotes as she slipped backwards through the crowd to where Amethyst had gotten on the rink, like a professional.

It was likely that the staff at the roller disco were going to have to re-polish the rink after Garnet and Amethyst were done with it.

* * *

“And the Beat Goes On” by the Whispers came over the speakers of the disco, the ever-so slight crackle of a stylus on vinyl audible for the first few moments before it kicked in. Pearl, now alone, took in a deep breath then a tepid slow exhalation before pushing herself into the fast lane in the midst of many disco-goers.

She did ballet as a minor in college, though the roller disco was her guilty pleasure, something she knew her instructor would have abhorred, though that made it just a little better in her mind. For Pearl, ballet was orderly, proper but with a skill ceiling in the stars, it suited her well like a reliable and cherished friend, but the roller disco was her outgoing friend with benefits that made her feel things she hadn’t before, someone that she might not be seen with, but was a flirtatious phone call away.

It started with a spin, then one more, just a bit lower. She broke in her skates within moments, as if they had always been there, and this is where the fun began. Pearl’s shoulders shuffled up and down with the beat as she mixed a pirouette with a motion to skate backwards, her eyes half lidded only taking in as much as they needed to avoid crashing into anyone.

Her legs were in front of her center of mass or so it seemed, frozen in time almost, only for her to shift into an incredibly low spin with a holler or three coming from the nearby patrons when it seemed like she might fall onto her back. Her skates criss-crossed each other over and over, front and back as she demonstrated the true amount of balance that she had on the dance floor, able to move however she felt like.

Pearl felt her problems fall off her shoulders as the different parts of the music became less important to understand, instead she only needed to feel it. When the night began, she was in a self-pitying trance, but now found herself in a perfect rhythm with the flow of the club. Some skaters congregated around her as the music went on, while some came to showboat. Pearl didn’t hesitate nor struggle to establish dancing dominance in every case, a wide smile growing on her face as she knew who was the dancing queen.

The reigning dancing queen had just demonstrated her full range of flexibility to a challenger when someone else took their spot quickly after they left to lick their prideful wounds. Pearl felt her internal rhythm hitch in her chest for just a moment as she took in the new challenger and connected the dots in the back of her mind.

The new skater sported a leather jacket with the sleeves tucked up past her elbows, a loose pink t-shirt that stated “Let’s Have Fun Tonight!” and a pair of worn denim hot pants. Her facial expression was as smooth and cool as her dark blue hair, all as she gave a sly smile and tilt of her head to Pearl, hiding what she was thinking at that very moment.

Lapis Lazuli, from Delmarva State University, someone who Pearl had seen on numerous occasions but had never actually spoken to, quite familiar with but not acquainted with. The two of them learned in the same building, though Pearl did ballet, while Lapis jumped from discipline to discipline before settling on ceramics, indicated by all the dried clay Lapis tracked around with her absolutely everywhere in the building.

As Pearl felt herself being pulled down memory lane for a hot second, Lapis quickly prompted her back into reality as she literally skated a circle around her with a smug look on her face as she openly commented,”Pearl Larousse, I never expected for someone like you to dance at a place like this”.

Pearl almost took offence to this statement, her eyes narrowing for a moment before her own pompous visage took over and aptly replied, “Lapis Lazuli, I didn’t even think you could dance, but well… I still don’t think you can, not compared to me at least”. Pearl placed her hand on her chest as she referred to herself, her smile growing ten times as pompous with a moderate tinge of salt.

Like a formal gauntlet slap across the face, Lapis quickly took the burn in stride as she tilted her head back and looked over her nose at Pearl. “Alright, if that’s how you want to play it little miss ballet dancer, let’s boogie,” with the stage set, Lapis and Pearl had a serious entourage of skaters whistling, shouting praise and going nuts for the scene unfolding in front of them.

* * *

“Rock With You” by Michael Jackson slowly faded in, the DJ seeming to catch wind of the new conflict out on the rink as the two warmed up for a thorough boogie battle. Lapis went first, swinging into the music with a series of consistent spins, all while snapping her fingers perfectly with the beat, ending with her body turned sideways towards Pearl, a confident and low smile on her face as she waited for a physical reply. Pearl gave a curt bow towards Lapis before immediately breaking out into her part, pirouetting with a solid jump into the air before masterfully landing back down and going into a low and incredibly slow spin so that she could semi-spitefully stare towards Lapis. Before she seemed like she was done, her hands put themselves onto the rink, summarily doing a hand-stand for a split moment before flipping back up onto her feet, roller skates going backwards as the crowd swooned for this. Garnet and Amethyst were somewhere in the back giving a double thumbs up, the both of them.

The blunette popped her jacket’s collar up as her expression broke out into a confident concentration, her fingers snapping with the beat as she drew closer to her strawberry-blonde opponent. Pearl had no idea what to expect, though she found herself being circled by Lapis, who pretended to rub up against her without actually touching her in any respect, showing off how close she could get and control herself on skates, still snapping as the music went on. She had the slightest amount of perfume on the back of her neck that ever so slightly snuck into the strawberry blonde’s nostrils, causing the lightest bit of a flustered look on her face.

Lapis took this moment of flusteredness as a victory, the crowd seeming to agree somewhat as Pearl took exception to this, breaking out into dance once again with increased fervour. Back and forth, one song turning to another as neither backed down. A layer of sweat covered both of their brows as their energy slowly depleted, but they kept going. Their audience slowly diminished as skaters went off the rink for a break, though that didn’t stop them.

As a exceptionally energetic song ended and gave away to a moment of pause in the disco, Pearl addressed her blunette challenger, “Alright, I’ll take the high road and admit that you can dance…”

“As I already knew…” Lapis casually remarked as she stretched during the period of rest, eyebrow lazily perked up slightly as if she expected Pearl to continue as the two of them passively rolled around the rink..

Pearl delivered on this expectation, her hand outstretched towards Lapis, “But how do you do.. in tandem?” with her own eyebrow perking up and a slow tilt of her head as she waited for a reply.

Lapis let out a genuine laugh with a minuscule snort while Pearl seemed incredibly unsure of her offer now. Though, the blunette took her hand while gently whispering, “I was afraid you’d never ask….. I was totally about to run out of moves,” the first part was rife with flirtatious tension, though the latter part was deadpan honesty.

The strawberry-blonde skater might have had a face full of red from the energetic disco, but that same flusteredness was still apparent through such a veil. Pearl was holding Lapis’ hand now, and found that she hadn’t actually considered what she would do if it was accepted, she had always been with….

Pearl suddenly pulled Lapis along to their surprise, a smile from cheek to cheek on her face as the music bounced from wall to wall once again, though she wasn’t there for competition. They spun each other and together, criss-crossing side by side as they quickly traded sides while heads bobbed along and hands clapped when they weren’t holding each other. There was naught but only a few that cared to look towards them now, but their laughter seemed to be the only thing the two focused on.

“Had I known that you were this pleasant, Lapis, I would have introduced myself much earlier,” she spoke gently as the music went through a period of calm, her expression tired yet tender, a smile still stuck on her face as they held each other's hands for a lethargic double-spin.

“Well Pearl, had I known that you weren't the dork that you presented yourself as…. Just kidding, though you always seemed glued to the hip with that pink haired gi-” she said with false honesty at first, before her tone because increasing genuine, with a tinge of inquisitiveness at the end before being interrupted.

“Oh, Rose? Forget about her!” Pearl waved her hand about ever so casually without care for the volume of her voice before returning it to Lapis’ firm grasp, the two now side by side as the music switched.

* * *

As the rink held but a quarter of the original patrons, if not less, “Easier to Love” by Sister Sledge joined into the musical rhythm. The showboating powerful strides of the two skaters had turned into long and slow strides as they periodically twirled around each other, the smallest possible amount of perfume from Lapis making it to Pearl.

Eyes half-lidded, they stared at each other more than anything else, with Pearl leaning in close enough for her breath to tickle Lapis’ ear as she mused, “Do you want to feel like you are on top of the world?”

It was Lapis’ turn to act flustered with her cool exterior cracking momentarily as Pearl’s tone was soft and undecipherable, and she felt her head nodding before her mind had even tried to gather a meaning. Suddenly, the blunette felt her dance partner’s hand on her hips as she briefly instructed, “When I do this, stiff superhero pose, alright?” a soft but informative tone to her voice as she proceeded.

With incredible surprise from Lapis, she was lifted above Pearl’s head for all to see, the lithe woman carrying her seeming steadfast in her action as she held herself as stiff as possible, and by some miracle, it worked. The two laughed incessantly as the two looked to each other in disbelief, even more so with Pearl doing a little spin.

Though it lasted for a mere couple of seconds, it was enough as Pearl carefully put the laughing Lapis down, still chuckling herself as they calmed themselves slowly.

Lapis slowly made her way towards the exit of the rink, commenting, “Alright, now I have to end there on such a good note, you coming?”

Pearl was beaming with new energy as Lapis said this, but she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder keeping her from the exit, knowing it from anywhere as she briefly noted, “I- definitely, just a moment Lapis” before looking back to her pink-haired guest, her previous tone cool and collected.

“Hey Pearl, how goes the disco?” asked Rose in a serene yet falsely oblivious tone as Pearl looked up to her with an expression of light annoyance, yet concern… Had Rose overheard her earlier? If she had, she likely would never directly admit it.

“Fine, I thought you would have been dancing with Greg,” she bit her mental tongue to avoid spite entering her voice, successfully.

“He has two left feet in roller skaters… but what, I can’t dance with you?” her tone seemed ever so fonder when she referred to Greg, but towards Pearl, the lack of luster was clear. As she spoke, Rose held both of Pearl’s hand, but, the strawberry-blonde briskly pulled them away, heading towards the next exit in a collected, yet somewhat cold fashion.

“Oh Rose, I’ve already danced enough, dead as disco they say..” said Pearl, her tone genuine as the statement was not a lie in any manner, though the slightest amount of her salty thoughts about Rose invaded her tone at the very end of the sentence with a dip in pitch.

Rose casually prevented Pearl from getting off at the next of the two exits, her visage becoming more grim as she spoke down at Pearl, “So.. who's the new girl?” with her tone following her visage in tandem.

“What's it to you?” remarked Pearl as she crossed her arm, her overall body language signalling that she was 'done' with this entire conversation already, now merely waiting for Rose to get over herself.

“Do you suddenly love her or something, after everything?” accused Rose as she subconsciously stared knives through Pearl, as if expecting her to retract in response.

Pearl’s annoyed expression turned into a deadpan one, then, bit by bit, she started to laugh, right in Rose’s face with naught but the smallest amount of restraint, wiping a bead of sweat from the corner of her face as she quickly calmed down, replying.

“In love? Of course not! A relationship is built upon like an empire, not suddenly found in the wild.. I have an interest, a place to start building…. Unlike with you, incessantly tearing everything down and insisting that I’m the one to build it up again when you feel like it....”

Rose looked like someone had just dug a dagger into her chest after she listened to what Pearl had to say, pausing for a breath before replying, “I-Is… that really how you feel?”

Pearl nodded before she adeptly rolled to the open exit of the rink, “C’est la vie, ma petite rose… I’ve made my peace, have you?” stating this ever so eloquently as she stood off the rink floor.

Rose seemed in a state of disbelief as her head followed Pearl while her body kept going forward, the edge of her skates catching the side of the rink and causing her to fall as her wheels locked up. Garnet and Amethyst had been tailing behind the two of them, for Pearl’s sake, though as everything transpired Amethyst was hyped at the turn of events (ignoring most of the context) while Garnet seemed genuinely surprised, perhaps, it was hard to tell with Garnet.

The two of them went to help, Pearl obviously waiting to make sure Rose was alright, though as they rolled around to the other exit she went over to the bench to release her form from her skates. As Pearl sat down, within a moment or two, two hands placed themselves suddenly on her shoulders, causing her to jump up ever so slightly.

“What was that about, nerd?” casually remarked the blunette who had snuck up on Pearl.

“Oh, that? Just something that was bound to happen…”

“Nerd, I mean did you break up with her or something, concise answers pleeeeease!” she ‘demanded’ though let out a brief chuckle quickly after.

“It was over forever ago, we just didn’t accept it until now… well, at least I have,” Pearl declared with an incredible amount of pride.

“I said concise answers!”

“That was concise enough!”

The both of them laughed as Pearl tucked her skates into her bag, shutting the coin-fed locker she had used for the night as they talked.

They didn’t hold hands, nor anything like what they did on the dance floor, but, couples did get admission fifty percent off tomorrow, one of them happened to suggest.

And, it would be a shame to waste such an opportunity to save a little bit of cash to dance... wouldn't it?


End file.
